The present apparatus and method addresses the growing problem of automobile drivers accidentally leaving their children or pets in the vehicle after it is parked. While relatively rare, there are an increasing number of incidents in which a driver—especially a very preoccupied driver, or a driver completely outside his or her normal routine—parks a motor vehicle at a destination, and then exits the vehicle and accidentally leaves an infant or pet inside the vehicle. (Nearly always, the infant or pet is sitting quietly in the back seat; the infant may be asleep in an infant safety seat.) The result can be tragic. On a hot day, the infant or pet can suffer potentially fatal heatstroke. Or the child could be kidnapped, or the driver may be charged with child neglect, etc.
There is a need for a simple, affordable, effective system for reminding the driver of a motor vehicle that he has a helpless passenger in the back seat. The system must be easy to use, so that drivers will not resent (and thus avoid) using it. It needs to be reliable, and most effective in the moment immediately before the driver leaves the vehicle. Indeed, the system preferably will not allow the driver to exit the vehicle without being reminded that there is a child in the car. The system should be simple and low-tech, for reasons both of reliability and of affordability. A simple, affordable system could be made readily available even to drivers of modest income.
A number of apparatus and systems have been proposed to remind a vehicle driver that he has a passenger. Previous efforts include U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0200465 to Fabors et al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,924,742 to Mesina; U.S. Pat. No. 6,998,988 to Kalce; U.S. Pat. No. 7,786,852 to Kautz; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,058,983 to Davisson et al. These systems, however, involve various electronic alarms, sensors, light beams, and the like, which may compromise reliability, affordability, and simplicity of installation or use. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0146383 to Chenault appears to offer a possible method of preventing an adult passenger from exiting a vehicle without an accompanying child passenger, but is impractical for use by an automobile driver. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0074757 to Banda shows a relatively simple device, but is cumbersome to use and evidently requires the vehicle door to be opened.
Against the foregoing background, the present invention was formulated.